Joseph Belbruno Blog

  Vox rides high in Spain over Ceuta backlash  Financial Times Europe 8 Sep 2026 BARNEY JOPSON AND CARMEN MUELA — MADRID  In a new sign of rightwing parties cap it al ising on anger over immig ra tion, a poll yes ter day showed that Vox — which takes a hard line stance — is ranked as the most “capable” of man aging the issue, includ ing by some main stream con ser vat ive voters. The poll from 40dB under scores the toll the Ceuta crisis is tak ing on Sánchez, one of the few European lead ers who con tin ues to espouse a lib eral immig ra tion policy, less than a year before the coun try’s next gen eral elec tion. The leftwing leader has been thrown on to the defens ive by short com ings in his gov ern ment’s man age ment after more than 70,000 people swam and rushed illeg ally into the Span ish exclave from Morocco in late July.  Nearly six weeks on, the crisis remains unre solved. Between 5,000 and 10,000 migrants remain in the north African ter rit ory with a pop u...

The world’s $2tn interest bill  Mount ing bor row ing costs and record debt are squeez ing pub lic fin ances, for cing gov ern ments to choose between higher taxes, spend ing cuts and vital pri or it ies such as defence. Financial Times Europe 8 Sep 2026 Data visu al isa tion by Jonathan Vin cent By Ian Smith, Sam Flem ing and Emily Her bert  The world’s gov ern ments have cre ated a $2tn mon ster — a debt-ser vi cing bur den that gobbles up tax rev en ues and has the power to over whelm elec ted lead ers. More money is now spent on ser vi cing the national debt than on defence in the UK, France and the US; the same is true for more than a dozen states in the 38mem ber OECD rich coun tries’ club. Their prob lem is that bor row ing costs have climbed to the highest in almost two dec ades just as gov ern ments are tak ing on record debt. The total owed by the US gov ern ment reached a record $40tn last month. This year, OECD nations are expec ted to bor row $18tn between them, a...

‘Chimerica’ is now a chimera — and global stability is the victim  Financial Times UK 8 Sep 2026 Adam Tooze The writer is an FT con trib ut ing editor and writes the Chart book news let ter  The sum mer of 2026 will be remembered for two great mac roe co nomic themes: the return of the debate around global imbal ances — aka “China shock 2.0” — and the ker fuffle in the world’s largest fin an cial mar ket, that for US Treas ur ies. Both issues are import ant in their own right. Even more telling as to the state of the world, however, may be the increas ingly tenu ous con nec tion between them. Once upon a time, the nexus link ing defi cits and global imbal ances seemed clear. In the early 2000s, the coin cid ence of the free-spend ing and tax-cut ting George W Bush pres id ency with China’s entry into the World Trade Organ iz a tion defined a new era of glob al isa tion. The US gen er ated budget defi cits and issued debt in huge volumes, but not in such quant it ies as to swam...

DON'T ARREST MAMDANI: SHOOT HIM IN THE MOUTH! Zohran Mamdani should be arrested, says Israeli ambassador Danny Danon accused the New York mayor of ‘inciting attacks’ with his call for protests against Binyamin Netanyahu when he attends the UN General Assembly new Zohran Mamdani has been accused of “inciting more chaos on the streets” Monday September 07 2026, 2.00pm BST , The Times Listen • 11:18 min The Israeli ambassador to the UN has called for the New York mayor Zohran Mamdani to be arrested for inciting violence ahead of Binyamin Netanyahu’s arrival for the UN General Assembly. Mamdani encouraged New Yorkers to protest against the Israeli prime minister’s UN address this month after conceding that he does not have the legal authority to detain Netanyahu on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2024. Danny Danon, the ambassador to the UN, told The Times: “He’s called to arrest the prime minister, but I think if somebody should be arrested it’...

  Opinion | Why Labor’s Share of Wealth Is Shrinking Sept. 7, 2026 Credit... Millie von Platen By Brent Neiman Mr. Neiman is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Workers are earning a smaller and smaller share of the economy’s income. Their cut — referred to by economists as “the labor share” — has been falling for decades. And it’s getting worse. During the past few years, it declined at a rapid clip and is now at its lowest level on record — about 53 percent of income, down from about 65 percent after World War II. Many policymakers blame industry consolidation and corporate greed for keeping a lid on workers’ compensation. Sure enough, there are now only three large wireless companies and four major airlines; Google dominates search. Corporate profits as a share of G.D.P. just reached a record high. When the share of income paid to capital — interest, rent, profits and dividends — rises, the labor share necessarily falls. Given that diagnosis, the prescription ...

  Trump is giving Putin reasons to test Nato  Financial Times Europe 7 Sep 2026 The writer is a scholar at the Brook ings Insti tu tion and former senior US National Secur ity Coun cil offi cial Philip Gor don  There have been con flict ing reports of the reas ons behind CIA dir ector John Ratcliffe’s unusual trip to Moscow two weeks ago. Some sug gest his pur pose was to warn Vladi mir Putin not to attack Nato ter rit ory, amid recent intel li gence leaks that Rus sia was con sid er ing test ing the alli ance’s resolve. Oth ers say that he went to share his assess ment that Rus sia’s war against Ukraine is going badly and to urge Moscow to cut a deal. Still oth ers point to the pos sib il ity that Ratcliffe went to press Rus sia to cut off sup port for Iran. The truth may be some com bin a tion of the three. If so, it would be a wel come excep tion to the admin is tra tion’s tend ency to refrain from put ting pres sure on Moscow, des pite its ongo ing attacks on Ukraine ...